Molesworth is New Zealand’s largest farm, as you will know if you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit the magnificent landscapes of this isolated 180,000ha station – about the size of Stewart Island/Rakiura – that links Marlborough to North Canterbury, Tasman, and Kaikoura. Yet few people know it is part of our public conservation land […]

Protect one species and resurrect a whole forest. Ann Graeme shares her personal stories of native New Zealand birds and insects that have returned after community pest control is carried out for another species. She calls it the “Lazarus effect”. It rained in the night. My pack is heavy with rat bait, and I am […]

Forest & Bird’s Regional Conservation Manager Sue Maturin reflects on the government’s review of the ‘General Policy for National Parks’ (General Policy) amid fears the public is being left out of an opportunity to improve one of our country’s most important conservation policies. Next to the National Parks Act, the General Policy is the most important […]

If it’s not clear why a Government announcement of ‘no new mines on conservation land’ could be almost immediately followed by a story about a ‘mine granted consent on conservation land’, read on. The simple answer is that the proposed Te Kuha opencast coal mine near Westport has just been granted resource consent from the […]

It’s official! The kea has taken our Bird of the Year for 2017. Ellen Rykers investigates how warming temperatures could impact them. While the kea’s antics may be more “court jester” than “monarch”, there’s no denying that kea are formidable kings and queens of the mountains (and our hearts). But their reign as ruler of the […]

Voting for Bird of the Year ends this Monday at 5pm and our amazing campaign managers have fought tooth and nail (or feather and claw) to get their bird ahead. We’ve seen videos, memes, scandals, even smear campaigns. But at the end of it all, it is their stories and passion for birds that could win hearts and […]

The pīwakawaka, commonly known as the fantail, is a familiar sight in gardens across New Zealand. Science communicator Amy Smith puts forward her case for why these chirruping birds deserve a second term as “Bird of the Year”. While other common garden birds spend their time in the tree tops, living their lives high above us, […]

Forest & Bird’s annual Bird of the Year competition is off to a flying start and the kea is out in front with over 2,500 votes. Read how Kimberley Collins went searching for the world’s only alpine parrot in Nelson Lakes National Park, New Zealand. Photos by David Buckton. You need to be sneaky if you want to […]

Hovering on the brink of extinction are the black stilt, also known as kakī, a wading bird endemic to New Zealand’s braided rivers in the South Island. The species became victims of predation and loss of habitat. They are one of the rarest birds in the world, with their numbers reduced to less than 200 […]